The present invention relates to communication services available via a data-centric network (i.e., a network that carries digital data) and a telephony-centric network (i.e., a network that carries telephony information such as voice, fax, pager, and the like). More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-implemented voice-based command structure for permitting a user to employ a telephone to access the various communication services of a unified messaging system that couples to both the data-centric network and the telephony-centric network.
Both the data-centric network (e.g., a distributed computer network) and the telephony-centric network (e.g., public telephone network) have existed for some time. Broadly speaking, the data-centric network (such as the Internet) may be thought of as a global computer network that connects millions of computer terminals all over the world in such a way that digitized information can be exchanged irrespective of the different hardware and software platforms that may be utilized to gain access to the data-centric network. People and businesses around the world use the data-centric network to retrieve information, communicate and conduct business globally, and access a vast array of services and resources on-line. In a similar manner, the telephony-centric network (whether wired or wireless) may also be thought of as another global network that connects the millions of telephony devices (such as voice-oriented telephones, pagers, facsimile machines, voice mail boxes, and the like) together in such a way that a user at one of the telephony devices can readily transmit information to other telephony devices irrespective of geographic boundaries.
In the past, these two networks existed as separate domains. This is because the widely accessible data-centric network is a fairly recent phenomenon. For the only network that has been available to the masses is the analog telephony-centric network, starting with the telegraph network of the nineteenth century. However, as more and more of the services traditionally offered through the telephony-centric network are being offered in a digital format by the data-centric network, the distinction between the data-centric network and the telephony-centric network begins to blur. Irrespective of whether these two networks exist as separate networks physically or conceptually going forward, the legacies of their separate existence can be seen in the various different communication services and communication devices that currently exist.
By way of example, there exist many different communication devices and services available today to allow a person to communicate to another person, e.g., telephones, facsimile machines, electronic mail (e-mail), pagers, voice mail, and the like. Generally speaking, a telephone is a communication device employed to transmit and receive speech and other sounds. A facsimile machine is a communication device to transmit and receive graphical data. A pager is a highly portable device that allows its user to receive data, and in some cases transmit limited data to a pager service provider. A voice mail box is essentially a service that allows one person to temporarily store telephone messages for retrieval by another. E-mail services allow e-mail users to transmit and receive data from computer terminals connected to the data-centric network. All these devices and services are well known in the art and will not be elaborated further for the sake of brevity.
In the aforementioned co-pending patent applications entitled xe2x80x9cINTEGRATED MESSAGE STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM DISTRIBUTED OVER A LARGE GEOGRAPHICAL AREAxe2x80x9d (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/239,560, filed Jan. 29, 1999), xe2x80x9cA SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING UNIFIED MESSAGING TO A USER WITH A THIN WEB BROWSER (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/240,367, filed Jan. 29, 1999), and xe2x80x9cCENTRALIZED COMMUNICATION CONTROL CENTER AND METHODS THEREFORxe2x80x9d (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/239,585, filed Jan. 29 1999), there are described a novel computer-implemented unified messaging systems and the communication services that are available therethrough. In brief, the inventive computer-implemented unified messaging system is implemented by one or more servers that are accessible by a user through either a computer interface (such as through a web browser) or a telephony interface (e.g., a telephone). Through one of the two aforementioned interfaces, a user may access the inventive computer-implemented unified messaging system and make use of the various communication services to communicate with another party. By way of example, the user may employ a telephone set to dial into his own account at the inventive computer-implemented unified messaging system, and through his own account, call, page, email, fax, or otherwise communicate with another party.
If the telephone interface is employed to access the computer-implemented unified messaging system and to employ the various communication services available therewith, the user typically employs the keypad associated with the telephone set to navigate through the option menus provided and to furnish the contact information of the target party. By way of example, the user may, after proper authentication and in response to a system prompt, enter at the keypad a digit or a sequence of digits indicative of the communication service desired (e.g., xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d for placing a call, xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d for sending a page, etc.). Further, the user may, again in response to a system prompt, enter at the keypad another digit or sequence of digits indicative of the contact information (e.g., xe2x80x9c831-123-4567xe2x80x9d) to allow the servers of the computer-implemented unified messaging system to establish communication using the communication service(s) indicated.
It is recognized, however, that this method of accessing the computer-implemented unified messaging system and its various communication services can be further improved. More specifically, it is recognized that certain classes of people, e.g., those invalid or handicapped, may have difficulties using the keypad to access the various communication services of the unified messaging system. Furthermore, with the rising popularity of mobile telephones, many people routinely employ mobile telephones to communicate while in automobiles. Although it is recommended that drivers pull off the road while using their mobile phones, it is recognized that most drivers unwisely continue to use their mobile telephone sets while driving. As such, these drivers often have to divert their eyes and hands off the road to dial the keypad, a situation which reduces driver attentiveness and increases the possibility for mishaps.
Voice-based commands for telephone systems have been in use for some time. However, it is observed that these systems tend to be extremely limited and/or poorly adapted for use in a complex system, such as in a unified messaging system, in which a large range of both data-centric and telephony-centric communication services and communication options are available. Further, existing voice-based command systems, such as those employed in certain automated response systems, tend to be quite primitive. That is, they tend to be poorly adapted at handling complex communication requests, which may involve multiple telephone numbers/email addresses, multiple parties, and different temporal orders for the various individual communication circuits.
In view of the foregoing, there are desired improved techniques for permitting a user to employ voice-based commands to access the various data-centric and telephony-centric communication services of a computer-implemented unified messaging service and/or to issue, in a natural and intuitive manner, complex communication requests involving more than one telephone number/email address.
The present invention relates, in one embodiment, to a method for creating an end-to-end connection between a first telephone and a communication device through a unified messaging system. The creation of the end-to-end connection between the first telephone and the communication device is performed responsive to verbal input from a user of the first telephone. The method includes receiving at the unified messaging system the verbal input from the user through the first telephone. The method further includes performing voice recognition on the verbal input. There is also included detecting an action word from the verbal input after the performing voice recognition. The action word is indicative of a communication service desired by the user in creating the end-to-end connection. Additionally, there is included detecting at least one of a called party identity and contacting data from the verbal input after the detecting the action word. Furthermore, there are included entering the one of the called party identity and the contacting data in a record of a call table and finalizing the call table after the user finishes with the verbal input. Finalizing the call table ensuring that the record of the call table includes service-appropriate contact information to permit the unified messaging system to create an outbound communication path of the end-to-end connection using the service-appropriate contact information.
In another embodiment, the invention relates to a method for permitting a user to create a plurality of outbound communication paths to a plurality of communication devices from a unified messaging system, the creating the plurality of the outbound communication paths being performed responsive to verbal input from a user through a first telephone. The method includes receiving at the unified messaging system the verbal input from the user through the first telephone and performing voice recognition on the verbal input. There is also included detecting an action word from the verbal input after the performing voice recognition. The action word is indicative of a communication service desired by the user in creating the end-to-end connection. Additionally, there is included detecting at least one of a first called party identity and first contacting data from the verbal input after the detecting the action word. Furthermore, there are included entering the one of the first called party identity and the first contacting data in a first record of a call table and detecting a conjunctive word after the detecting the at least one of the first called party identity and the first contacting data. The method further includes detecting at least one of a second called party identity and second contacting data from the verbal input after the detecting the conjunctive word. Furthermore, there is included entering the one of the second called party identity and the second contacting data in a second record of a call table and finalizing the call table after the user finishes with the verbal input. Finalizing the call table ensuring that each record of the call table, including the first record and the second record, includes service-appropriate contact information to permit the unified messaging system to create an outbound communication path for the each record.